STOCKTON - Karen Furst chooses her words meticulously so as not to be misunderstood. After all, as a medical doctor and scientist, she is trained in precision.

More significantly, though, when Furst speaks, she is keenly aware of who is listening.

As the health officer for San Joaquin County, Furst is our most visible physician, responsible for assessing the health status of more than 700,000 lives, a quarter of whom are foreign-born and where a language other than English is spoken in close to 40 percent of the homes.

Furst was appointed health officer by the county Board of Supervisors in 1997 after spending two years as assistant health officer. Her era will wind down Friday when she officially retires, but the board recently approved keeping her on part time to assist in the recruitment and transition to a new health officer, who is still to be hired.

At that same meeting during which Furst's long service to the community was recognized, Supervisor Ken Vogel said "she put the interests of San Joaquin County citizens first."

During an interview, Furst deflected any personal credit - as is her nature - for what's been achieved on her watch.

"Within Public Health Services, within our programs, it's the staff and managers who do the work of public health. They need the tools, they need the information and the support to do their work, because their work is going to make the biggest impact in the community," Furst said.

"The health department alone cannot solve all the health issues of the community. We need to work in collaboration with all the other agencies and organizations, the medical community, hospitals, not-for-profit schools," she said.

In a region poor in resources as it pertains to health care, Furst said it's that strong collaboration that's developed in San Joaquin County that has made inroads toward reversing dismal health indicators.

"Not every county health department has that excellent working relationship with their community," she said.

Stockton physician leader Dr. Kwabena Adubofour had no reservations about giving credit to Furst for bringing the medical community together.

"Karen Furst has done a wonderful job of coordinating all of us in the San Joaquin Medical Society in addressing the issue of the day. If there is an issue of what we ought to know in treating an epidemic, you are sure to get something from Karen Furst. It's an appropriate use of her office," Adubofour said.

Furst cited most recently the effort by the Stockton Unified School District to administer more than 16,000 flu vaccinations to its students to keep them from getting sick and spreading the virus.

"That's a collaborative effort with Public Health. I have given the schools standardized nursing procedures to administer vaccine. We provide the vaccine, working with the state to get the vaccine to all the schools (in the county)," she said, noting that the vaccine consists of both an injectable vaccine and a nasal spray, known as FluMist.

"We use more FluMist in this county than any other county besides Los Angeles. It's a very important collaborative with the schools, because kids are the spreader of influenza. If they don't get sick, then their teachers don't get sick, and the disease isn't spread into the community. It's a wonderful effort," Furst said.

Furst made headlines in 2012 when she invoked the powers of her office and went to court to keep a noncompliant tuberculosis patient in jail until he agreed to abide by strict rules. TB is contagious and a potentially serious infectious disease.

Unique to health officers, they are the only medical practitioners authorized to exercise police powers such as isolation and quarantine to prevent further spread of disease, according to the California Conference of Local Health Officers.

"It's always a balancing act between protecting the community and the individual's rights, and making sure there is always due process. That's what makes a health officer different from any other physician. I have the policing powers to say, 'You may not work until I clear you,' " Furst said.

Prior to coming to San Joaquin County, Furst earned a degree in microbiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania and her master's in public health from University of California, Berkeley. She spent her residency focusing on general preventive medicine with the California Department of Health Services in Sacramento before working as assistant medical director in Santa Clara County and acting health officer for the city of Berkeley.

Reflecting on the past 19 years, Furst said, "This county is a very good place to work. It is very supportive, all the way up to the Board of Supervisors. They enabled me to do my job. I'm very fortunate - working with all the managers, they are always there to give me support.

"Hopefully, it has helped me be successful and make some kind of impact in this community."

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/goldeenblog and on Twitter @JoeGoldeen.